Today:
You know the drill: this is the thread for all your history-related outpourings that are not necessarily questions. Minor questions that you feel don't need or merit their own threads are welcome too. Discovered a great new book, documentary, article or blog? Has your Ph.D. application been successful? Have you made an archaeological discovery in your back yard? Did you find an anecdote about the Doge of Venice telling a joke to Michel Foucault? Tell us all about it.
As usual, moderation in this thread will be relatively non-existent -- jokes, anecdotes and light-hearted banter are welcome.
Successfully defended my thesis on Wednesday, and am now on day three of being a doctor. It doesn't feel terribly different than not being a doctor, but at least now I can prescribe poems and short stories to people without being a fraud.
A friend of mine is one of the individuals who has signed the Historians against Trump and their name was featured in this fun little bit of racist and antisemitic doggerel. So that's fun.
While I don't want to get all political, as a historian that looks a lot into modern Germany, the resurgence of antisemitic invective this American election cycle has stoked is so disheartening. Even though it is fused with 4chan trolling, the congruence between this type of rhetoric and the various völkisch tripe from interwar Germany is striking. It is just so damned depressing.
I let the mods know the other day, but I would like to let everyone else know. It looks like interest and activity in the book club has dropped off significantly. I'm no longer going to create any new book club topics. I want to thank everyone who participated, it was fun while it lasted.
I published an article on Monday on the New Yorker's website on the first postwar atomic test series, Operation Crossroads: "America at the Atomic Crossroads." I also published a companion piece (with references and research notes) on my blog: Operation Crossroads at 70. I was happy with the New Yorker piece — I felt I was able to to balance a lot of little balls in the air at once (culture, military, nuclear effects, long-term consequences, new Soviet documents) and have them come together nicely as one. It is one of those pieces that, if you've never heard of the subject, I think it gets you up to speed pretty quickly, and if you already know a lot about the subject, you will still learn a few new things. (That's sort of my favorite genre — it has a "best of both worlds" aspect to it, appealing to both general and specialist audiences, ideally.) As always I'm happy to answer any questions about the topic or the writing/publishing process that anyone might have.
My wife and I belatedly celebrated our 9 year (!) anniversary by going to a Broadway musical. No, not that one (I am not made of money or luck) — we saw Fun Home, which was pretty good, though I have to admit that other show's soundtrack had really changed my expectations about what the songs in a Broadway musical could be and Fun Home reminded me of what they mostly are (forgettable, context-dependent, musically nothing-special).
Watched (or rather, listened, mostly) the RNC and DNC conventions in their near-entirety (I tuned most of the no-names and immediate-family members out). The RNC left me feeling profoundly disturbed by Trump and his base, and the DNC left me feeling better about voting for Clinton. Not surprising, I guess, given my general political sensibilities (I consider myself a moderate liberal), but there you are.
I wish academic journals were more accessible to the general public, I consider myself so lucky that my university allows me to access so many through them even after I graduate
I'm not sure if this is the appropriate thread to share it, but I sadly answered a question on a deleted thread (saved the link and answered it without knowing it was deleted) and wanted to share my answer with y'all since you can't see it, it was about the significance of the porphyrogenitus
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4un0qu/what_was_the_significance_of_being/d5tgby9
Made a post about my recent adventures in the archives at Duke University. ALWAYS BET ON DUKE!
No, really though, it was reasonably useful...nothing earth-shattering, but I found a couple of very intriguing sources. :o
Could anyone recommend any good books specifically focused on Hitler's Presidential campaign in 1932? I don't speak German so it needs to be in English or translated to English.
(I don't think this warrants an entire thread so I posted here)
I made a post a while back asking about a possible ceremony/parade with both Charles de Gaulle and George Patton present. My question didn't get any responses so I figured I'd try here. I'm fairly certain it didn't happen exactly when or how my grandfather described it, but I'm sure that he did attend some parade like this. I'm trying to map out his entire timeline during the war and I'd really like to figure out when this took place. Certainly there must be some photos of this event somewhere.
Could someone recommend a book on ancient mining practices?
I had the rare treat this week of being taught (mostly kids songs, that's what you get in a new beginner class) by a man who nearly single-handedly saved a tradition, by becoming a teacher in the 1970s following a documentary that claimed that Cape Breton fiddling would die out with the older generation. He was hardly the only one to do so and the community being galvanized like that is quite the thing in it's own right, but he was the one who taught both Ashley MacIsaac and Natalie MacMaster to play, so I'd say that Stan Chapman's actions had a huge effect in the degree to which this style is still known and beloved today.
A rehash of a question that fell through the cracks that I'm curious about. Does U.S Grant deserve his reputation as a drunk cold hearted butcher? It seems that for a man who did so much(forcing the surrender of three armies, saving an army from starvation, played a key role in ending the ACW) in an army plagued with terrible generals that Grant is signaled out particularly for being someone who was constantly drunk and threw soldiers carelessly at his enemies to win. Is any of this true and what's the general consensus of Grant today?
Greetings. I come here hoping that someone out there can help me out. I'm working on a documentary about the Iran-Iraq war (80-88) and in this phase of the production I'm hunting for footage. If anyone has got some good footage from this war, it would mean a lot. What we are looking for: - Attacks on oil-tankers and ships - Persian Gulf footage - Interviews Bonus points for anything with Norwegian ships/sailors/etc. Help a fellow out? You can email me at beren666(at)gmail.com
I've got a bit of a question.
I've haven't been to the subreddit in a while, but when I wandered over here today I noticed that all Aerospace-related questions were highlighted yellow. I've never seen that before. What's the deal?
Why did rulers throughout the ages have such a hard time producing heirs?
I made a thread for this too, but does anyone know if a US Presidential candidate has ever run (successfully or not) on the notion of barring immigrants based on their religion?
Is the WW2 death count of 60 million that is normally cited including the Second Sino-Japanese War's 25 million(ish)? I usually see them listed seperately but with a note that the Second Sino-Japanese War was a part of WW2.
Hi, can anyone recommend me some good books that I can read on the Wars of the Roses? Anything about Richard III would be great as well.